Temple To The Brave

 A Brief History of the Temple to the Brave

From the Beaumont Enterprise 20 October 1932:

            “The Temple To The Brave, a war memorial dedicated to universal peace was presented to the citizens of Beaumont by the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Mrs. L. B. Pipkin was regent of the chapter during the period of the campaign to raise the money for the temple and during its construction.  She said, 'The ideal of the DAR in erecting the chapel was that it be a museum of war relics and a place of prayer in honor of all of the Texas soldiers, sailors and marines of all wars.'  The Pipkin family had donated a tract of land to the City of Beaumont some years earlier, which became known as Pipkin Park.  She gave credit to the members of the committee who had worked in raising funds for the building and carrying out of the plans.  She told of how the structure was made possible through the gift of red granite by M. F. Yount from the Yount Quarry in Manitou, Colorado.

            "Mrs. J. A. Glen, the current regent of Col. George Moffett Chapter, DAR, presided. Mr. M. E. Moore, superintendent of schools made the dedicatory address and read a history of the chapel, telling of the inception of the idea and the manner in which it was carried to completion by the DAR.”

 From an unsigned and undated document in the Chapter files:

            “The Colonel George Moffett Chapter chose a committee composed of Mrs. Julia Bryan Livesay, Chairman, Mrs. L. B. Pipkin, Mrs. B. Middleton, and Mrs. Lipscomb Norvell.  Mr. Wallace B. Livesay donated his services to the Daughters as the architect.  Mrs. Middleton, as fund raising Chairperson, called on the entire city for help.  She obtained money from a thousand citizens individually, from business firms, and school children.  The success of the campaign was due to feelings of patriotism and faith in the future of our country.  In fact, the whole town gave evidence of civic loyalty and pride in the face of unemployment, uncertainty, and other results of the Great Depression.  Some of the organizations that contributed were the American Legion and their Auxiliary, Veterans of Foreign Wars and their Auxiliary, the Woman’s Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Young Men’s Business League, and the Boy Scouts.  

            "Each part of the building has a special story.  Mr. Albert Sanders of the Sanders Tin Shop donated the shingles for the roof, which lasted forty years.  Col. George Moffett chapter replaced the roof in 1970.  The Rose Window at the West end of the building shows all of the flags and names of the Allied Nations of World War I.  This window was donated by the Yount-Lee Oil Company.  The six windows along each side of the temple depicted 'Texas Under Six Flags' were given by the American Legion, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Woman’s Club, Boy Scouts, Business and Professional Women’s Club, and the Jefferson County Medical Society.  The largest stained glass window in the East end of the Temple portrays three service men of World War I in their uniforms. This window was donated by the Colonel George Moffett Chapter.  This list of donor organizations is on a plaque in the Temple.

            "Inside the Temple, there are display cases containing war mementoes.  There is a book of donors designed by Miss Erin O’Brien.  She based her design on the 'Book of Kells,' a famous medieval book discovered in Ireland.  An engraving company in Galveston donated the sheepskin from which the book is made.  There is a leather bound Bible donated by the Beaumont Ministerial Alliance.  The book is on a lectern at the West end of the Temple, it was signed by seventeen ministers of Beaumont.  There is a picture of 'Old Ironsides,' the USS Constitution, framed from the original timbers of the heroic old ship.

            "On 11 October 1932 the four ladies of the committee wrote Mr. Paul H. Millard, the City Manager, and asked for permission to dedicate it on 19 October, the anniversary of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, which ended the Revolutionary War.  From its dedication on October 19, 1932 until early 1980 the Temple was opened to the public on patriotic holidays throughout the year.           

            "On Sunday 3 October 1976 at 2:30 PM the Colonel George Moffett Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution held a memorial service dedicating an Official Texas Historical Marker in commemoration of Jean Baptiste (Jonas) Chaison, a Revolutionary War soldier who died in Beaumont, 20 July 1854.  It reads:

            "Jean Baptiste (Jonas) Chaison was born in Nova Scotia of French parents.  After imprisonment by the British during the French and Indian War, he and his parents fled in 1763 to France where he was soon orphaned.  He returned to North America and joined the Colonial Army in 1775 at Quebec to take revenge against the British.  Continuing in the Continental Army, he served with Lafayette at Brandywine, 1777; was wounded serving under Greene and Marion at Eutaw Springs, 1781; fought at Germantown, 1777; and fought under Lafayette’s command at Yorktown, 1781.

            "Coming to western Louisiana as a cattle raiser and farmer about 1785 he married Marie LeBlanc and had eight children.  About 1840 he moved to Beaumont to live with his son, McGuire Chaison (1809-1859).  He was strong and healthy of mind and body as long as he lived and farmed here until 1854, dying at a few days under 109 years of age.  He was buried in Jirou Cemetery.  He was one of the few men of the American Revolution involved in Texas history.  The Daughters of The American Revolution marked his grave site in 1944.  The DAR Marker was moved here to Pipkin Park when a church was built in 1989 in the extinct Jirou Cemetery, 1976.”

In the Chapter files there is another document, “Final Report of the Temple to the Brave,” which mentions this dedication, signed by Mrs. P. G. Matthews and dated November 1976 when she was regent.  It reads:

            “The Jirou Cemetery was located at Gladys and Oakland Streets.  In 1944 the DAR had marked his grave there with a granite stone.  In 1969 the Jirou Cemetery (where Beaumont’s first settler, Noah Tevis was buried and more than 50 other members of early families) was obliterated to make way for the building of the Plymouth United Church of Christ.  The stone on the site of the Chaison grave was thrown out into the street, but was retrieved by members of the DAR, who placed it near the entrance to the Temple."

            In 1988 the Temple To The Brave was reopened.  The rededication of the "Temple Museum" was held on March 6, 1988, the same date the Alamo fell in 1836.

            The Temple to the Brave is the most outstanding project the Col. George Moffett Chapter ever accomplished, yet there was no marker on it that designated it as DAR project.  As one of the Chapter’s 2002 Projects, the Chapter installed a plaque on the building alongside the door.  The picture below is of that plaque, it reads: